[matsemann]

I remember using some kind of resource explorer, looking into the scripts powering the AIs. If I remember correctly, it didn't get "smarter" at higher levels, it just cheated and gave itself more resources every minute, lol.

[Emjayen]

I've heard this repeated quite a bit, and while I haven't checked the AI scripts themselves (although I don't recall/imagine there being a script facility to give oneself resources..) I can say that, engine-wise, the only handicap behavior for AI that I've noticed is:

- On the highest difficulty ("Hardest"), AIs are bestowed 500 to all resources on next-age research completion. - Work rates for researches are skewed to be slower for the lowest-difficulty setting.